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Monday, June 13, 2005

Unflat world

Perhaps I was a bit harsh on Thomas Friedman when I insinuated that he only sees the rosy side of things. In a chapter titled "The Unflat World", from his book, The World is Flat, Friedman writes:

The most important forces fighting poverty in India today, in my view, arethoseNGOs fighting for better local governance, using the Internet and other modern tools of the flat world to put a spotlight on corruption, mismanagement and tax avoidance. The most important, effective, and meaningful populists in the world today are not those handing out money. They are those with an agenda to drive reform retail at the local level in their countries – to make it easier for the little man or woman to register his or her land, even if they are squatters; to start a business, no matter how small; and to get minimal justice from the legal system. [Hyperlinks mine.]

Quite. I still think that the central mataphor of the book just doesn't work, but that's a different matter.